A Newspaper Investigates Its Future

By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

Published: October 12, 2006

Newspapers are all looking for ways to gain readers, and many have hired consultants to help them. In an unusual twist, The Los Angeles Times is looking to chart its future by using its own reporters and editors, who rank among the best investigators in the business.

The Times is dedicating three investigative reporters and half a dozen editors to find ideas, at home and abroad, for re-engaging the reader, both in print and online. The newspaper's editor, Dean Baquet, and its new publisher, David Hiller, plan to convene a meeting today to start the effort, which is being called the Manhattan Project. A report is expected in about two months.

''The newsroom is energized about innovation,'' Mr. Hiller said. ''And having the code name of the Manhattan Project captures the sense of significance and urgency that I think is altogether called for.''

The name refers, of course, to the American effort to develop an atomic bomb during World War II, an-exaggerated-for-effect overstatement of the problems facing ink-on-paper newspapers: declining circulation, stagnant ad revenues and rising costs. While visits to newspaper Web sites are increasing, they account for a small part of revenue and do not draw enough advertising to support newsroom operations.

The Los Angeles project sprang from recent turmoil at the paper, when Mr. Baquet and the previous publisher, Jeffrey M. Johnson, said in the pages of the newspaper that they would not go along with cuts ordered by the corporate parent, the Tribune Company. Tribune has cut more than 20 percent of the 1,200 newsroom employees since it bought the paper in 2000.

The company dismissed Mr. Johnson last week. Mr. Baquet said he agreed to stay because he was convinced he would have the chance to make a new case for shoring up both his staff and his budget.

Those involved in the project said they did not want to be passive by-standers as their paper, like many metro dailies, struggled to transform itself in the Internet age.

''We shouldn't be waiting for corporate headquarters or a think tank or a consultant to come up with ideas to secure our future,'' said Marc Duvoisin, an assistant managing editor who will direct the investigation.

The project underscores just how focused many newsrooms have become on the business side of journalism, especially as Wall Street has shown little confidence in the industry and as share prices of most news organizations have dropped.

''We realized we had to act fast or we wouldn't have anything to act for,'' said Vernon Loeb, the paper's California investigations editor, who helped originate the idea.

Tribune's plan to make more cuts at The Los Angeles Times is presumably still on the table, though it is not clear how deep they may go or over what period of time. A company spokesman in Chicago declined to comment on the project. But the team in Los Angeles said the goal was to produce ideas that could be put in place without waiting for permission, or money, from Chicago.

Newspapers have long struggled to find ways to attract more readers, and the Los Angeles paper in particular has had a hard time figuring out how to balance its national and international ambitions with the demands of covering its sprawling backyard. Adding to the uncertainty is the stated interest of three local billionaires in buying the paper and concentrating on local news.

Robert Niles, editor of the Online Journalism Review at the University of Southern California, has suggested that the billionaires start a Web site instead, reflecting a sense among some that online publishing will someday push aside many print newspapers.

Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, teaches seminars in newsrooms trying to rethink their futures. He said that when he asked reporters and editors to imagine how they would build a newspaper from scratch, they had more fun tossing around ideas about their newspaper online than in print.

Those on the project in Los Angeles said they were already mulling several ideas. They include creating new sections; adding columnists and using citizens to ''report'' on local matters; and expanding the paper statewide. The Times in recent years has eliminated its national edition and cut back its availability outside of Southern California.

Newsrooms are often involved in brainstorming ideas to make their papers more appealing, but they typically limit themselves to the journalistic realm. The Los Angeles effort differs from most in that it could affect the paper's business side and it is transparent to the public while the reporting is in progress.

''We want to collect the best thinking on how to sustain the vitality and profitability of the print franchise,'' Mr. Duvoisin said. ''And we want to find the best thinking on how to transfer our journalism to the Web in the way most likely to grow audience and revenue.''

But Mr. Loeb described the changes to come from the investigative project as a ''reimagining'' of the print paper in conjunction with the Web site.

The team plans to seek ideas from across the country and perhaps London, where news pages rely heavily on opinion, and Oslo, where a newspaper company called Schibsted is perceived to be in the vanguard of Web-based journalism (though the company recently told The Economist that it turns down its many requests from foreign journalists or it would not get anything done).

The reporters on the project are Glenn F. Bunting, Chris Gaither and T. Christian Miller, the author of ''Blood Money,'' a new book about corruption, waste and fraud among those trying to profit from the rebuilding of Iraq.

As for the notion that reporters could come up with solutions to what ails the business, Mr. Niles said, ''None of these legions of other people have come up with the answers, so why shouldn't reporters take a shot?''

Photo: A newsstand in Hollywood. The publisher of The Los Angeles Times was recently dismissed after he refused to carry out budget cuts. (Photo by Nick Ut/Associated Press)